Sunday, March 30, 2008

O.k. well our second book, Confetti Cakes for Kids, will not be out until November, 2008 but I am so excited because we just received the blads. A blad is a catalogue of a few sample pages of the book and is used by the publisher for advertising purposes.

That said, this is just a sample cover, nothing is set in stone yet. I'm still in the process of editing, editing and then more editing. Before I wrote our first book I had no idea of how much work went into the process. I may be biased but I think making and writing a cookbook is more difficult than any other kind of writing. You have the basic writing and measuring of every specific detail, then you have all the recipe testing, then making all the product (in our case: cookies, cupcakes, mini cakes and sculpted cakes) to be ready all the same week so it can be shot by a professional photographer. For the photo shoot you need to do all the styling, so I was running around buying special backdrops and renting props from a special prop house! Then once all the photography is done I start with illustrations and templates...and did I mention the editing! This week I should be getting back the second pages (second round of edits) so I hope to have more to share soon!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Spring is definitely in the air. You can tell because the sun is slightly warmer, people are starting to wear brighter colors and the wedding magazines are putting forth their best features. Wedding season is upon us and with that we have been lucky enough to be included in a number of the top wedding magazines in the world! Check them out:Brides featuring 50 of the country's best cakes, my friend Anne Chertoff wrote about them in her fabulous blog for ivillage.

I am really proud to announce that we have been honored with a full six-page spread in the Spring 2008 InStyle Weddings Issue. The photos were styled by Lynn Butler Beling and shot by Monica Buck.

Lastly, New York Magazine included us with a number of top NYC cake designers in their Summer 2008 Weddings Issue. New York Magazine holds a special place in my heart because this was the first magazine to publish our wedding cakes back in 2002. It's only appropriate that they also featured the rehearsal dinner invite and gift tag from my own wedding on page 69 created by Sesame Letterpress.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Today we are fortunate enough to have a video posted on the homepage of a wonderful organization, Women For Hire. Here's the direct link to the video:http://womenforhire.tv/elisa-strauss-owner-confetti-cakes-bakery/I'm sure there is a better way for you to view this but as my brother (the computer expert) can tell you I should stick to buttercream not streaming video! One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is not just making the cakes but sharing my experience as a small business owner. This video will give you a little glimps of that. Back in August of 2006 (yes... a long time ago) I recorded a short segment on ABC's Money Matters,http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2282439Now I have a place to share it!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

With the coming of spring I thought this was the perfect time to launch our very own blog!

Confetti Cakes has been so fortunate to be included on many other fabulous blogs and after a number of requests we thought it was time to let everyone know what goes on behind-the-scenes at Confetti Cakes.

During our last appearance on NBC’s “The Today Show” a few seconds before Al Roker and I started making cupcakes, a light fixture fell on set directly over our heads, luckily Ann Curry was there to catch it…next thing I knew “3,2,1…..”, live television before millions of people (just a little frazzled). My producer later said, “hey it’s something you should talk about on yourblog”…if only I had one…so here we are!

Besides making cakes we are busy finishing our second book, Confetti Cakes for Kids, due out November 2008. We've also been teaching a ton of classes and gearing up for a few upcoming demos!

On a happy note we have just gone into the third printing of our first book, The Confetti Cakes Cookbook. So thank you to EVERYONE who has made our first book such a success!

Please stay tuned for information about upcoming events, classes and of course discussion on cake!